DJ Slater (Owner Tribal Vision Rec, CZ)

JK: Hey man how are you?

DJ Slater : Fine mate, thanks!

JK: Cool... So tell me a bit about tribal vision. How did it start?

DJ Slater: Actually we have been using the name “Tribal Vision” as a DJ/party organizer crew since 2001; at that time it was me, DJ Paq and DJ Quapim who formed the core of the group. In 2003 we accepted a new member, DJ Schwa, who had a perfect background for the music (post-) production activities since his father is a musician and owns one of the best equipped studios in the Czech Republic. We were discussing the label idea for half of year at least and slowly started to take it more and more seriously. Around summer 04 we got in touch with some people from the progressive trance scene and so the work on our first compilation called “Urban Legends” began.

JK: Was urban legends your first release as a label?

DJ Slater: Yes, exactly. We are just releasing our 2nd CD, "Lime Light".

JK: Who are some of the artists that tribal vision is involved with?

DJ Slater: We are working with many artists from the current progressive trance scene, but those who are really connected closely with us and we also represent them as a booking agency are the following: POTS, Tegma, Parrket, Rai, Holm & Andersen, Leo, NASA, Elysium Project and Windfall, plus we have four Czech label DJs (Slater, Schwa, Quapim, Paq) and a Brazilian one (Lennox/Sonic Lizard)

JK: You guys are releasing prisoners of the sun album later this year?

DJ Slater: yes, that’s right....it should be out at the end of the year, most probably November or December...before that we would like to release also a CD with the remixes of two tracks from the upcoming album... There will be also a worldwide POTS tour planned so that the guys can present their fresh stuff live too.

JK: what other releases can we expect apart from pots and limelight?

DJ Slater: There are quite a lot of projects planned for this year. At the end of June should be out our 3rd compilation, this time with a bit different, darker sound, probably closer to real psychedelic trance music (not full-on though); I think names like Human Blue, Tegma, Parrket, NASA or Etnoscope could imply something. For August we have in our schedule a special cd from German project Meller... including four new tracks and four remixes of them from some really interesting acts...maybe I can already reveal three of them: Tegma, Vibrasphere, Etnoscope.

DJ Slater: I would also like to release the 1st part of “CDJ” compilation series, that should be a collection of the progressive house/trance tracks that were previously released on 12“ only, so that also DJs using just cd players can play them now. Till the winter time we will also try to put together the tunes for a new regular V.A. compilation in “Lime Light” style.

JK: You guys are obviously doing well, with these artists u work with and so many releases... what’s it like being a progressive label in a scene dominated by full on?

DJ Slater: I can’t complain actually. Of course we are not able to sell 5000 or more copies as some of the full-on labels do, but the sells our still good to work effectively and I think the interest in this kind of music is growing... There are more and more people bored by full-on music so I think we got an alternative to that.

JK: do you travel much as a label DJ?

DJ Slater: yes, quite a lot....nowadays about half of my gigs I play abroad. So far it was a couple of times in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, France, Chile, Portugal... Among the upcoming gigs are also Spain, Croatia, Denmark or Sweden....

JK: Who do you think are the most innovative acts in the progressive world today?

DJ Slater: my top artist at the moment is Franck Beckers....very original music that work amazingly on the dance floor...killer production, ideas, vocals...something special indeed.

JK: Any artists to look out for?

DJ Slater: hmm...although not really new, in my opinion one of the acts that is really worth attention now is super talented French producer Yannis Kamarinos aka Jaia who is going to release an album on Digital Structures...very sophisticated, emotional progressive music... I also believe in a breakthrough of our new artists Parrket (Croatia), Rai (Czech rep.) and Leo (USA)...

JK: cool, yes I like Parrket and Rai... Haven’t heard much Leo.

DJ Slater: Leo is a part of Influx project from Brazil originally.

JK: what are u looking for in new artists?

DJ Slater: the most important is innovation and originality...things the scene needs a lot of! Of course professional production

JK: what is the scene like in Czech Republic?

DJ Slater: about our scene, it is not really easy nowadays, especially with the progressive trance audience, which is very small here. But on the other side, although the events are not the biggest ones (usually about 150-300 people), people can sometimes create great familiar atmosphere and especially summer open air events are really worth visiting.


JK: Any plans for tribal vision artists/DJs to visit Australia?

DJ Slater: one of our label DJs, Schwa, is going to move to study in Australia in September, so for sure it will be possible to hear him on some events down there....I would also like to get in touch with some promoters to organize a POTS tour during the Autumn (Spring) time... We will see what future brings with the rest but for sure it is a very interesting country for us...

JK: What have u heard about our scene? Any artists from Australia you like?

DJ Slater: I’ve heard a lot about the bush parties, must be awesome!!! There are many interesting artists coming from Australia/New Zealand....Sun Control Species, Sensient, FREq, Infusion...

JK: Any last words?

DJ Slater: thank YOU for this interview just maybe I would like to recommend everybody to visit our website at www.tribalvision.cz where should be coming a lot of new updates very soon and also feel free to contact us at slater@chaishop.com with your comments, ideas or critics, the feedback is very important for us!

Interview by Jesse Kuch